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i . C4 B2 
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LUCRETIA (CHANDLER) BANCROFT. 



1900.] Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 125 



MRS. LUCRETIA (CHANDLER) BANCROFT. 

A LETTER TO HER DAUGHTER MRS. GHERARDI. 

WITH INTRODUCTION 

BY HORACE DAVIS. 



The letter presented to the Society herewith was Avritten 
in 1828 by Mrs. Bancroft, wife of Eev. Aaron Bancroft, 
of Worcester, to her daughter Mrs. Donato Gherardi. 
Mrs. Gherardi gave it to her daughter Clara, afterwards 
wife of George H. Davis, and Mrs. Davis took it to 
California, where I copied it in 1855. 

What has become of the original I do not know, but I 
am sure that this is a perfect transcript of it. It is worthy 
of a place in the Archives of the Society from its connec- 
tion, direct or indirect, wath so many well known persons ;' 
but to me it has a much deeper interest from the glimpses 
it gives of the home-life, the trials, the endurance, the 
patience of the women who shaped American Society in 
the days of the Revolution. 

Mrs. Bancroft was a younger daughter of Judge John 
Chandler, of Worcester, whose portrait adorns the walls 
of our hall. He was the fourth John Chandler in lineal 
succession in that family, and after a career of unusual 
prosperity was bafiished for his loyalist sentiments, 
to which he owes the sobriquet of "Tory John," by 
which he was remembered in Worcester a hundred years 

ago. 

The Chandlers were among the wealthiest and most 
distinguished families in the Worcester County aristocracy 



tt^ 



' The history of the family is closely identified with this Society. The husband of 
the writer of the letter was vice-president; her son-in-law, John Davis, was presi- 
dent; her son, George Bancroft, was vice-president; and three of her grandsons 
are at this time members of the Society, J. C. Bancroft Davis, Horace Davis, and 
Andrew McF. Davis. ^ . t /^ /f ^ ^ 






120 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

of Colonial times. Starting from the humblest ]>egin- 
nings, for William Chandler, of Roxburj, the progenitor, 
died an object of charity ; his son, the first John, emi- 
grated to Woodstock, then part of Massachusetts Colony, 
where he o-ained a firm foothold. The second John 
advanced considerably in position. He accumulated a 
comfortable property ; he represented Woodstock in the 
General Court and served in the Indian wars with some 
distinction as Major and Colonel. When Worcester 
County was formed in 1731 he was made Probate Judge 
and Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and 
he was for seven years a member of the Governor's 
Council. 

The third John moved to Worcester, where he held 
pretty much every office in the County. He was Select- 
man, Town Treasurer, County Treasurer, Sheriff, Regis- 
ter of Probate, Register of Deeds, Probate »Tudge, Chief 
Justice of County Courts, Representative to the General 
Court, Colonel in the Militia and a member of the Gover- 
nor's Council. He was also appointed by Governor Shir- 
ley, in 1754, a delegate to the proposed congress designed 
to concert measures for the union of the British American 
Colonies. He died, in 1762, wealthy and full of honors. 
In him the family reached its zenith. 

His wife Avas Hannah Gardiner, great-granddaughter of 
Lieut, Lion Gardiner, who is one of the most picturesque 
figures of the early times. He was an English military 
engineer, sent over from Holland in 1635, by the Puri- 
tans, to construct and maintain a fort at the mouth of the 
Connecticut, as a check on the Manhattan Dutch. Gardi- 
ner built Fort Saybrook and commanded it till 1639, dur- 
ing which time he was constantly fighting, not with the 
Dutch, but with the Pequots. In 1639 he bought of the 
Indians Gardiner's Island, which lies at the east end of 
Lone; Island, Avhither he moved with his family. Many 
years later he wrote a very lively account of his four 







/// 




1900.] Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 127 

years' experience at Fort Saybrook, which is still spicy 
reading. 

In 1699, Gardiner's Island was visited by the notorious 
Capt. Kidd, who left in charge of the proprietor, John 
Gardiner, considerable merchandise and treasure, which 
Gardiner surrendered to the Governor of Massachusetts 
Bay when Kidd was arrested. 

Hannah Gardiner, Chandler's wife, was born the year 
of Kidd's visit. Her portrait and her husband's, both by 
Smibert, are still in existence. 

The fourth John Chandler, of whom we get a glimpse in 
this letter at his own fireside, smoking his pipe and petting 
his little daughter, succeeded his father in nearly all his 
public honors. He was Selectman, Town Treasurer, Town 
Clerk, County Treasurer, Sheriff, Judge of Probate and 
Representative to the General Court. He was also Colonel 
of the Worcester Regiment, and in 1757 saw active duty 
in that capacity. Chandler was married twice : first, to 
Dorothy Paine ; second, to Mary Church. The latter was 
mother of Mrs. Bancroft and as such appears in this letter. 
Mar}^ Church had in her veins the best of Pilgrim blood, 
going back even to the Mayjloiver. On her mother's side 
she was grandchild of Judge Nathaniel Paine, of Bristol, 
Judge of Probate, and of the Court of Common Pleas ; 
also one of the Council of Massachusetts Bay. On her 
father's side she Avas granddaughter of Col. Benjamin 
Church, the distinguished soldier, who commanded the 
final expedition against King Philip ; of Avhich he left an 
account which is to-day the principal historical authority. 
Church's mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Richard War- 
ren, one of the Mayfloiuefs passengers. Church's wife Avas 
Alice, daughter of Constant SouthAvorth, Avho Avas step-son 
of Governor Bradford and took an active part in public 
affairs at Plymouth during the first generation. 

Up to 1774 Chandler's life had been one of almost 
unbroken prosperity, but when the storm of rebellion 



128 Americau Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

against England broke out, his loyalist sentiments brought 
him into angry opposition to popular feeling, and he was 
compelled to leave home and family and retire to Boston. 
When Boston fell into the hands of the Continental Army, 
he fled to Halifax and thence to London, where he 
spent the rest of his life, twenty-four years. This ex- 
perience gave him in Worcester the nickname of " Tory 
John," while in England he was called the " Honest 
Refugee," because of the modesty of his claims against the 
British Government for losses sustained by reason of his 
loyalty. 

After his flight his estate Avas probated as though he 
were dead. Dower was set off for his wife and the 
remainder was confiscated. Thus Mrs. Chandler was 
reduced from aftluence and comfort to narrow circum- 
stances, with a large family of young children to care for. 
This letter recalls the harshness of the change with a touch 
of bitterness that was very natural. 

Mrs. Chandler survived her husband's flight only seven 
years, and died in 1783, leaving her daughter Lucretia 
(afterwards Mrs. Bancroft) virtually in charge of the 
family, though she was only eighteen years of age. Three 
years later, against the wishes of her brothers, she married 
the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, a young clergyman, of verj' 
narrow means, just settled at Worcester. His record is so 
well known in this Society as to require but little detail 
from me. He came of good family in Reading, was gradu- 
ated at Harvard College in 1778 ; studied for the ministrj-, 
and came to Worcester in 1784 to preach as a candidate for 
the [)ulpit of the town church. The church being Calvin- 
istic while Mr. Bancroft leaned to Arminianism, they 
refused to settle him, whereupon sixty-seven men left the 
old church, formed Avhat was called a poll-parish, and 
invited Mr. Bancroft to occupy the new pulpit on an 
annual salary of $500.00, which he accepted, and was 
duly settled in February, 1786. 



■1900.] • Lna-etia Bancroft's Letter. 129 

The next October he niaiTied Lueretia Chjindler. Younof 

o 

children were soon added to the family, and it became a hard 
struggle to provide bread for all the mouths. The salary 
of $500.00 was meagre enough, but even then part of it 
was usually i)aid in farm produce at the parishioners' 
valuation, and in many years some part of it Avas never 
paid. Mrs. Bancroft took boarders, and her husband taught 
private pupils in his leisure hours to eke out their slender 
means. She speaks of these times of mutual trial with 
pathetic tenderness, but never with regret. 

All this was only temporary. By and by the town grew, 
and the parish grew and was able to give him a more 
adequate support. The older children were soon able to 
contribute something to the general fund. His " Life of 
Washington " brought Mr. Bancroft some income, and 
long before the close of life they enjoyed comparative ease 
and comfort. 

Of their children, John, the oldest, was lost at sea. 
Henry, the next, died at home from injuries received on 
ship-board ; this explains the mother's terror of the sea. 
The oldest daughter was Eliza, wife of John Davis, 
Governor and United States Senator. Their fourth son 
was George Bancroft, the distinguished historian and 
statesman. Their fourth daughter was Jane Putnam, 
afterwards wife of Donato Gherardi, and the recipient of 
this letter. 

Dr. Bancroft acquired distinction in his profession, 
received the degree of D.D. from Harvard College, was 
President of the American Unitarian Association for 
eleven years, and Vice-President of this Society for 
sixteen years, beside holding other honorable positions. 
Of his lovely character and faithful Christian service I 
need not speak. 

Jane Putnam Bancroft married, in 1825, Donato Ghe- 
rardi, a gentleman of culture, a political refugee from 
Italy, In the fall of 1827 they set sail for Louisiana with 



130 Amei'ican Antiquarian Societ'/. [Oct., 

two small children who had been born to them, intending 
to establish a school. On receiving the noAvs of their safe 
arrival at their destination, the mother's heart overflowed 
in the following; letter : — 



•to 



Worcester, February 28d. 

It is now two days since the choicest letter which I ever 
received came to us. With heartfelt gratitude I gave thanks for 
your safety and I pray most devoutly for the blessing of health 
to all of you, that your husband may find his employment 
pleasant and you fill your duties with all the praise of a good 
wife and an affectionate mother. You like a good child long 
for a letter from mother, she a broken old woman fears she 
cannot collect herself sufficiently to interest you. When I reflect, 
my dear Jane, on my pass'd life, and of the changes and diffi- 
culties I have gone thro', I wonder I am able in this manner, to 
be cheerful and appear happy, but the hope which supports the 
just I hope will enable me to finish my course with the belief of 
a Christian who humbly trusts in a better life ; I dont give up 
the joy waiting for us that we are to know each other in [the 
future] where all sorrow is to be [hidden] from our eyes and 
our enjoyment is to be without end. Many valuable writers are 
of this opinion, your father too joyns in it. What then is it we 
so much dred at parting with our friends, and separating from 
any we love, when duty calls? when without this very perform- 
ance we cannot obtain this glorious promis. Mother must submit 
to loose the daughter, the daughter must be willing to leave her 
parents and home if the Husband of her affection requires it. 
To you and me my dear child it was a trial. When I took you 
to my arms for the last time, when I thought I should never see 
you more, need I describe my emotion, to know you must be lost 
on that Eliment and think it might be the grave of another child 
Avas certainly more than I thought I could be supported under, 
but that merciful providence who protects all things mercifully 
protected you, the waves he assuaiged, as the mother of this 
little family, I hope I am sensibly impressed, that you was so 
wonderfully preserv'd, in such danger. Sometimes I wonder 
how your father ever could have thought of a young girl like me 



11)00.] ■ Lucretia Bancrofts Letter. 131 

for his wife — one who was almost a child of nature — unfortunate 
in being bred without the least culture of the mind. My mother, 
a woman of a strong understanding, would often strive to turn 
my attention to reading and as often point out the importance of 
spending my time usefully; not having an early good school 
education, the ground work was not laid. I cair'd not for 
history, nor did I read much of Travels. I could form no 
idea where the place was nor co'ld I imagin that such peo- 
ple as I read of ever existed, so what was the result, I read 
novels to a wonderful extent, I took pleasure in a good play, and 
found delight in reading blank virce. Your Uncle Sever read 
beautifully, and he would often hear me read, which was of high 
consiquence but as to my knowing anything that is now consider'd 
an English Education I am sure it was all as out of the question. 
1 possessed a cheerful disposition — and my mother would some- 
times tell me in a plaiful manner, I should never have more at 
my heart than I should throw off at my heels — I was always 
ready for any amusement, the War we had with England did not 
forbid mirth, that seem'd to be the only way to go on. I was the 
gayest in the ball room. I never wanted more attention than I 
received. Sometimes my pride wd have a good lesson for I 
could not dress like many of my young acquaintances. Altho 
born in the lap of plenty, and constantly more carest than fathers 
generally do caress their children, when so numerous a family as 
he had would not expect it, but the truth was I was my mother's 
eleventh child, and nearly three years elapsed before the twelfth 
came. I was as my mother had said, a pretty little black eyed 
Indian, as they called me, remarked for my upriglit form, which 
gave me the name, and till the war broke out which was when I 
was in my ninth year, I was even then the plaything of the 
family, indulged by my father. He never sit in his chair without 
calling for ' pug ' to come to him. I sat while he smoak'd his 
pipe. I can even now see him go and take his glass of wine, 
and away to his office, happy indeed were those days, the poor 
and the afflicted always found a reffuge in my parents, if I 
possess one attum of benivolence or even feal for the sorrowful, 
it was from these early impressions, but alias they were too short, 
grievous times came, my father not willing to live in altercation 
with those around him, a very few indeed of the number who 
had not by his bounty and by his kind interfearance assisted in 



132 



American Antiquarian Society/. 



[Oct., 



the daily walks of life, or aforded them such means as to enable 
them to get a living, it was these very men who were the most 
bitter, and from such men he thot it best for a while to abscond 
— our most confidential men laiborers was let into the seacret, and 
my father went to Boston, these men having all the plate, linnin 
and libary under their care, this was indeed afflictive, but not all 
— this was the work of man. My mother was to be tried more, the 
very next winter was the most painful, for in that winter two fine 
sons were drowned. You have often heard me speak of them — 
they were two and four years older than myself — this loss my 
mother moarned the rest of her days. The next summer every- 
thing was stript and torn from us. I could not see these changes 
and not take some lessons of usefulness. I trust they made a 
right impression, poverty did not come but many luxuries which 
my mother was accustomed to she of course must be deprived. 
Instead of a good cook, a second woman for chamber work, 
where there was at least thirteen and fifteen beds to be made a 
girl to tend her youngest child, and a black servant who had 
been train'd to the service of tending table and being altogether 
a house servant. All my father's linnen and my mother's nice 
lawns and laces kept in order by a special woman, no other than 
mother to old Mrs. Noar, all these were given up, even the 
comfort of her husbands society for he was gone. All these 
comforts the dreded war deprived her [of] at once except the good 
old black woman who was the cook, but she soon died and then 
a poor miserable girl was the substitute, with a little boy which 
my mother said she wd keep at her chair while she was at her 
meals. I am becoming two particular — Economy was the grand 
order, but my mother could not willingly give up her former 
appearance, her society was courted, all who had ever known 
her was desirous of her acquaintance. While her furnature was 
sold in her own house, and the very chair on which she sat, bid 
of from her purchase. She bore it well, and never put herself 
down by losing her dignity. All this was hard, but the hardest 
was to come. We had to loose this mother. After strugling 
thro these times of deep distress, the war closed, a fair 
prospect was before us that we should be happy, but a violent 
feaver overtook this frail body, she had not strength to overcome 
the diseas (perhaps our medical aid was not such as we are now 
favour'd with) death was the close — and at that time peculiarly 



/ 



1900.] Lucretia BancrofCs Letter, 133 

distressing, as her thirds were set of, as if she had no husband, 
and the children not considered heirs, it was expected all wd go, 
and we should be flung out to the wide world in this state (I was 
in my eighteenth year) my father in England living on a small 
sum annually received for the offices he left hear, the British 
Government were highly honorable to the sufferers — but my father 
possed nothing that he then could part with. Your Aunt Sever 
and I took the family. Your Uncles had a large family. I 
believe I may say I took the head. Polly, as she was called was 
not fond of working about house, and was often to say the least 
of it dissatisfyed. My brothers were desireous I should be the 
austensible housekeeper. All refferences were left to me in 
domestick concerns. I was pretty happy because I thought I 
certainly was earning my living. Two years your Aunt Sever 
and I lived there. She was then married. I could no more visit 
her than if I was a mother of a family. I aught to have told 
you, your grand mother's income we had the use of, but the 
principle belong'd to the State. It was thot best to send a 
petetion asking for it as her heirs, this was a long time in 
agetation. Your father had become our minister. I was pleased 
with him and while our affairs was in this poverty struck state, I 
might, or I might not be your father's wife. I had been tried in 
so many ways. I found there was no certainty in riches, trouble 
would come and it might be softened by the quiet life I might 
leed with a clergeman — much to the disappointment of my 
brothers they thought I could find some one to give me a better 
living, and was very desirous to have me give it up. It is not 
easy for a young girl to give up an object where she considers 
her highest happiness depends, at the same moment let me be 
understood I had no property nor was it known that there ever 
would be any. Even my mother's thirds had not been given to 
us, so you notice, money was not the object, if it was affection I 
hope I have not been deficient in my best endeavors to prove my 
constant desire to promote his happiness, and save his interest — 
it has always been my first object to see him happy — none but a 
pai-ent can tell the joy he expressed on the birth of Henry — nor 
how happy I was when I had a half douzeu children standing 
round me for their breakfast and supper consisting of rye bread 
tosted, the fragments of cold coffee boyled and put on milk. I 
always did it with my own hands, they as cheerful and satisfied 



134 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

as if it was a dainty, for why ? Because mother gave it them 
— at dinner my children always dined with us — cheap soup or 
pudding would be generally seen. Count Rumford's book was 
of much use to me. I learn'd many cheap dishes and made them 
satisfactory to my family — I was grateful for the bright prospect 
the children as they advanced for their readiness to learn and the 
very great love they show their mother. As to Henry I could do 
anything with him, if he could only save me any laibor he was 
perfectly happy. John was a wonderful boy with as good a 
heart as his brother — if our circumstances had not always been 
straightened I have no doubt it would have been his choise to 
have had a liberal Education but providence ordered it otherwise, 
nor do I think it sinning when I say I shall go sorrowing to my 
grave for these sons. Your father has often said Eliza caused 
him the least trouble of the four first children. I had no trouble 
with her, she was always yealding to my wish and quick to learn. 
I had real delight in learning her to work. You come in the 
next tlock, never need a father and mother love a child more than 
we did you. Eliza took peculiar pleasure in aiding and assisting 
you in what we call'd important in your future wellfair. We 
certainly saw your character rising in excellence, nor were I 
deceived even in parting with you. A heighth of excelence I 
found in you that I delighted to see. Your husband and children 
supersceded all other ties, and you as a good wife and mother 
parted with us with a determined assureance of performing your 
duty in these capassities, if it is possible I love you the better for 
it, and with such a determination you will succeed, how earnestly 
I pray for you success. Let me hear from you often. Let me 
know all of Mr. Gherardi and the dear children and all of 
yourself. Be assured all shall be kept within our own bosomes. 
How I long at this moment to give you another adieu, the 
children ! how I long to see them, that is impossible, you 
must write if you wish to make me recosiled to my loosing all of 

^ * Your affectionate mother, 

L. Bancroft. 

Eliza and boys are well. I tell her she don't look quite as 
well as she used to. Her soliscitude was grate for many weeks 
while her husband was so sick and now I judge by my own 
feelings if she dont hear often there is an anxiety lest he may 



1900.] Lucretia Bancrofts Letter. 135 

have a recurranc, and that will be exactly my trouble if I dont 
hear from you. 

Lucretia is now reading Virgil for dear life, quite a wonder in 
that particular — her school is done — we hear daily that she has 
another school, some have even said she was to go to New York 
and take the one you was to have, how strange when no one 
has ever thot of such a thing, but I hope she will have one for I 
believe it would give her pleasure. Mrs. Greenlief Wheeler is 
dangerously sick with a feaver — what a family to loose its 
mother — Your father is in Hartford learning them to be 
Unitarians. 

March 6th. You shall know the success of such an ambassion. 

[On the back of the letter is the following] 
I pronounce this letter to be invaluable. Clara, keep it as 
long as you live. J. P. Gherardi. 



The original is followed in the copy as closely as possible. 

Historical Notes on the Letter by Andrew 
McFarland Davis. 

Such particulars as are essential for a complete under- 
standing as to the personal it}^ of the several members of 
the famih^ alluded to in the foregoing letter have been 
furnished by my brother, in the paper through which it 
was brought l)efore this meeting. It is not my purpose, 
therefore, in what I have to say, to trespass any more than 
is absolutely necessary, upon that portion of the subject. 
The reference, however, in the letter to the aid derived 
from Count Rumford's book, and the family bill of fare 
there given, throw a flood of light upon the struggles of 
Dr. Bancroft's family in their endeavor to support life 
u})on the meagre pittance afforded by his salary as })astor 
supplemented by what he could earn in extraneous work as 
teacher and editor, and suggest a topic which will bear 
some elaboration. It is true that the young married 
couple were not absolutely without means, but the small 
portion of Judge Chandler's estate, which came to Mrs. 
Bancroft shortly after their marriage, was not of so much 



13G American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

use to them through its increase of their income as it was 
through the fact that its possession served first as a guar- 
antee against positive want, and in the end it was probably 
through this fund that thev were enabled to purchase a 
home. The heroism of this young woman in ])o]dly 
accepting the hardships of life which were plainly in view 
when she married Mr. Bancroft can only be appreciated by 
a review of the surrounding circumstances, and it is to the 
development of the facts necessarj^ to accomplish this that 
I shall devote the greater part of the time allotted me this 
morning. 

The first glimpse that we have of the writer of the letter 
is the picture in which she describes herself at the out- 
break of hostilities between Great Britain and the Colonies, 
as the "little black-eyed Indian." She was then a mere 
child of nine years of age, her tenth birthday happening 
in the week after the battle of Bunker Hill. Up to that 
time she had known nothing of the hardships of life, and 
it was far from the conception of any member of the 
family that the comfort or even the luxury in which they 
had theretofore lived could ever be invaded. Her great- 
grandfather, John Chandler, a resident of Woodstock, 
held important offices in Worcester County. Her grand- 
father and father, bearing the same name, residents of 
Worcester, held pretty much all the offices, appointive 
or elective, that could be conferred upon them either b}' 
royal governors or l)y their fellow-citizens. The income 
from transmitted wealth added to the salaries and per- 
quisites of office furnished means for the maintenance 
of the household upon the ideal standard of the country 
gentleman. The portrait of Judge Chandler which hangs 
upon the Avail of this Society was doubtless painted 
when he was living at ease in his family mansion in 
Worcester, dispensing the hospitalities for which his house 
was celebrated, and bestowing with free hand the charities 
to which his daughter alludes in her letter. Although 



1900. J Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 137 

it depicts a man whose career up to this time had been 
absolutely free from care, whose happy relations with his 
family are shown in the repeated references in the letter to 
the affectionate manner in which he treated the writer, and 
upon whose life but few sorrows had up to this time cast 
their blight, still the impression derived as to the state of 
mind of the subject of the portrait from its contemplation 
is that of sadness. If the picture had been painted a few 
years later, one could understand this, for the time came 
Avhen his loyalty to the government which had honored 
him converted this wealthy office-holder into a proscribed 
fugitive, whose right to tread on Massachusetts soil was by 
special legislation denied him, while his wife, if she would 
avail herself of the doAver rights set out from his property 
for her support, was compelled to remain within the limits 
of the United States. 

The writer of the letter associates the breaking up of 
the family circle with the close of her childish days. 
When next she speaks of herself the child has Ijecome a 
voung lady and participates in the social gayeties of the 
little village of Central Massachusetts, which are no longer 
prevented by the stress of war in the immediate vicinit3\ 
She can go to balls, and partners she can have in plenty, 
but she feels keenly her inal)ility to procure such dresses 
as many of her friends wear, and her pride revolts at the 
restraints put upon her. There is no hint of want in the 
conditions under which she is living in this second glimpse 
that we get of her in the letter ; her father leading a lonely 
life in his l)achelor's quarters in London,' sustained by the 



1 Judge Chandler was accompanied in his exile by his son Rufus, whose name like 
his father's was mentioned in the Act to prevent the return to this State of certain 
persons, etc., etc. May 1,1787, Rufus wrote as follows: "On the twenty tifth of 
.July last I obtained permission from the Commissioners for my Father & myself 
to receive our allowance by our Agents during our absence from Great Britain for 
one year, anil was then directed to make application for a renewal of these permis- 
sions at the expiration of that period, otherwise our allowance would cease, and 
as we expect to go to Annapolis in a short time," etc., e?e.— (N. E. Hist. & CJen. 
Reg., Vol. 24, p. 247.) 

This letter was written at Halifax. The dependent condition of the father and 



1S8 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

memory of the prattle of his children as they had in old 
days gathered about him in his home while he smoked his 
after-dinner pipe and drank his glass of wine ; her mother 
maintaining the dignity of the household as best she could 
under the changed circumstances ; but we can see that the 
expensive hal)its of the girl's childhood have given way to 
economies in dress and in the management of the house- 
hold, and that there is no longer the luxurj^ the ease, 
or even the comfort to which she had formerly been 
accustomed. 

It is perhaps worth our while as we follow the story set 
forth in the letter to take a glance at the legal proceedings 
through which the downfall of the family had been brought 
about. In April, 1777, there were numerous estates in 
Massachusetts situated as was that of Judge Chandler. 
The owners, loyal to the Crown, had been compelled to 
abandon their homes and seek protection under the British 
flag. It was to meet the case of these abandoned estates 
that the General Court, on the 19th of April, 1777, passed 
the " Act to prevent the waste, destruction and embezzle- 
ment of the goods or estates of such persons who have left 
the same, and fled to our enemies for protection ; and also 
for payment of their just debts, out of their estates." ^ 



son being distasteful to them they had come to Halifax expecting that Rufus would 
be able to open a lawyer's office and earn a living. This was found to be absolutely 
impracticable. They still had some hope evidently that by crossing over to An- 
napolis an opening could be found. They both returned to London. 

1 Province Laws, Vol. V., p. C29 et seq. Dr. Chandler, in his genealogy of the 
Chandler family, furnishes what purports to be a copy of the inventory of Judge 
Chandler's property tiled in the Probate Court by the Commissioners appointed to 
set aside dower. This inventory as published contains evidence in itself that the 
total of the estate is included as an item, dower being set off valued at exactly one- 
third of this item. Being of oj)iniou that in April, 1775, the alleged date of this 
inventory, there was no law under which such proceedings could have been taken, 
1 consulted Mr. Abner C. Goodell. He called my attention to what he termed " the 
famous ordinance forbidding the conveyance of estates of refugees," passed about 
a month before the Battle of Bunker Hill, as a possible basis for a mistaken refer- 
ence of this sort. He also referred to the Act of May 1, 1776, directed against per- 
sons inimical to the rights of the United States, under which their property, upon 
conviction of the offenders, could have been forfeited to the Colony.— Ibid., p. 479 
et stq. He was of opinion that if Dr. Chandler gave 1775 as the date of the contts- 
catiou proceedings he was mistaken. Since I wrote to Mr. Goodell, 1 have ascer- 
tained that the proceedings against Judge Chandler's estate were conducted under 



1900.] . Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 139 

Under this Act, the Judge of Probate for any County 
was authorized to appoint an agent to take charge of the 
estate of an absentee whose absence had been certified to 
him by the Selectmen or the Committees of Correspondence, 
Safety and Inspection of the town, provided such absence 
had continued for three months or upwards ; provided, 
also, that the absentee had left property behind him and 
that he had voluntarily gone to the enemy. Belief on the 
part of the Committee was adequate for the establishment 
of the last fact. Any agent appointed under these circum- 
stances was empowered to settle the estate of such absentee 
as an administrator would if the absent person were dead. 
In case persons were left l)ehind, dependent upon the estate 
for support, the Judge of Probate was " impowered to 
alloAV bedding, utensils and implements of household furni- 
ture, necessary for the upholding of life, for the use of the 
Avife & family of the absent person," and he might also 
"assign to the wife the use and improvement of one 
third part of the real estate during the absence of the 
husband." 

Any agent who might be appointed under this Act was 
instructed to sell the entire personal estate which should 
come into his hands at public auction and out of the 
proceeds pay the debts of the absentee. If the personal 
property should not prove adequate to satisfy the demands 
of creditors, then the agent was to apply to some court for 
license to sell real estate. 

Proceedings agrainst the Chandler estate were begun on 
the 18th of April, 1777, under this Act, so far as this can 

the Act to prevent the Waste, etc., etc. I am, however, equally indebteil to Mr. 
Ooodell for calling my attention to this ordinance through which the conveyance 
of property by refugees was inhibited. It was passed May 22, 1775, and prohibited 
any person within the Colony from taking " any deed, lease or conveyance whatever 
of lands" from the described persons. On the 21st of June, the Provincial Con- 
gress followed the matter up, by recommending the Selectmen and Committees of 
Correspondence of the several towns of the Colony to take the property of refugees 
into their care.— See Journals of the Provincial Congress. See, also, Massachu- 
setts Archives, Vol. 138, No. 57. See, also, rotes to Chapter 38, Province Laws, 
Vol. v., pp. 70G-713. Mr. Uoodell also referred me to the notes to Chapters 24, 48 and 
49, Laws of 1778, 1779; Province Laws, Vol. V., pp. 1004, 1052 and 105(5. 



140 American Antiqum^ian Society. [Oct., 

be determined by the dates of original papers now on file in 
the Probate Court. The Chairman of the Worcester Com- 
mittee of Correspondence, etc., then filed the certificate 
required under the first section of the Act.^ 

An agent was thereupon promptly appointed, who quali- 
fied by filing the required bond on the 7th of May, and 
then entered upon the performance of his duties.^ It is 
evident, however, that the Committee took possession of 
the estate i)rior to the appointment of the agent, for in his 
final account the agent charges himself with cash received 
in June, 1777, from the Committee of Correspondence of 
the town of Worcester, and with sundry obligations deliv- 
ered by the Conmiittee, which were afterwards paid. 
There is no authority conferred by the "Act to prevent the 
waste, etc.,'' for any such action on the part of the Com- 
mittee, but it is a remarkable fact that in the various 
proceedings against the property of the loyalists which 
then took place there was seldom any step taken or act 
coumiittcd, however harsh and arbitrary such action was, 
which was not to be justified by some authority conferred 
upon the perpetrators by the General Court. The Assembly 
by bestowing upon the proper authorities power to carry 

1 Worcester April 18, 1777. 
To the Honorable Levi Lincoln Esq^ Judge of Probate for the County of Worces- 
ter. The Committee of Correspondence Inspection & Safety for this Town, woud 
inform your Honor, that agreeable to a Late Act of the Great and CJeneral Court of 
this State, to prevent Waste, Destruction, or Embezzlement of the Estates of those 
Persons who have left them & Hed to the Enemy, and as by said Act Information 
must come to the Judge from the Selectmen or Committee of said Towns where 

said Estates are The Committee for this Town, in conformity to said Act would 

Inform your Honor, that John Chandler Esq-- has absented Himself leaving a Wife 
& family, that James Putn.am Esq' has absented himself with his whole family, ex- 
cepting one negro man. That Rufus Chandler has absented Himself with his wife 
leaving one Child. That Doct'. William Paine has absented Himself & since sent 
for his wife leaving One Child— all which Persons except Mrs Paine have been 
absent more than three months, •& said Committee verily believe have Hed to the 
Enemy. By order of the Committee of 

Correspondence t&c for Worcester 

John Cunningham, Chairman. 

"The Agent w£is Joseph Allen, then County Clerk, and afterwards a member of 
Dr. Bancroft's congregation. Hon. Alfred S. Roe, in an article on George Bancroft 
in the "New England Magazine," calls attention to the fact that Mr. Allen performed 
the marriage ceremony for Dr. Bancroft and his wife.— N. E. Mag., Vol. XXIII., p. 



1900.] " Lucrelia Bancrofts Letter. 141 

out the ,se(iuestration of the estates of the fugitives Avas 
able to protect the property from disorderly destruction 
and from seizure by unauthorized persons. Security was 
also thereby gained that provision could be made for the 
support of dependent members of the family. The author- 
ity for the action of the Committee at this time is probably 
to be found in a resolve of the General Court passed April 
23, 1776, instructing the Committees of Correspondence, 
Safety and Inspection to take possession of the estates of 
absentees.^ 

Judge Chandler took refuge in Boston in the fall of the 
year 1774, so that there was an interval of about two 
years, during which the family remained in undisturbed 
possession of the property.^ Possibly they managed to 



' This subject is developed by Mr. (xoodell in the note to Chapter 38, Laws of 1776- 
1777.— Province Laws, Vol. V., pp. 706 ct see/. 

The resolve of May 22, 1775, inhibited the transfer of property by refugees. 
The resolve of June 21, 1775, recommended Selectmen and Committees of Corre- 
spondence to take charjie of the property of refugees. July 8, 1775, the Provincial 
Congress resolved, that the resolve of June 21, 1775, ought not to be construed to 
extend to any estates except such as were left unimproved and void of any occu- 
pant or possessor, until the refugee owner should be regularly indicted. March 23, 
1776, a Committee was appointed to repair to Boston and take possession of the real 
and personal estate of the Mandamus Councillors, Commissioners of Customs and 
others, who at any time after April 19, 1775 and before March 20, 1776, had aban- 
doned their property and fled from Boston. April 3, 1776, a resolve was passed the 
purpose of which was to reach the property of the persons mentioned in the last 
preceding resolve which had been placed in the name or the hands of others. 
April 19th a resolve was passed in the House, and concurred in April 23 by the 
Council, instructing the Committees of Correspondence, Safety and Inspection of 
every town and plantation in the Colony, to take possession of the estates of refu- 
gees, to lease the real estate for one year and to inventory the personal estate. 
It being feared that the general terms of this resolve might interfere with the 
Committee appointed March 23, to take possession of the estates of the Boston 
refugees an explanatory resolve curing this possible defect was passed May 4, with 
a proviso for the support out of the estates of the wives and children of the 
obnoxious persons. 

-His name, which constantly occurs in the Worcester Records for many years, 
suddenly disappears in 1774. Its last appearance there was as a signer of the vigor- 
ous and somewhat famous protest of the loyalists, presented June 20, 1774, which 
Clark Chandler, one of the signers, being then Town Clerk, extended in full upon 
the Records. The protest was not only carefully exi)unged but Clark Chandler was 
publicly reprimanded at a town meeting for making the entry. It appears from 
one of the reports prepared by the Commissioners appointed to investigate the 
claims of American loyalists that Judge Chandler took refuge in Boston in Sep- 
tember, 1774.— Audit Oftioe Records, American Loyalists, Vol. 105, fol. 122; Records 
Office, London. He was in Boston when Gage sailed, and signed the address then 
presented the General. 



142 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

contribute towards his support after he left Boston, until 
their means were curtailed by the action of the Committee 
of Correspondence. Following the seizure of the estate 
by the Committee there came a period of uncertainty and 
doubt, during which the hope that the Judge of Probate 
might be induced to assign Mrs. Chandler her thirds was 
never abandoned, notwithstanding the failure of the judge 
to exercise his power to do so. This anxiety was pro- 
longed for nearly three years, her rights in the income of 
her huslmnd's estate not being actually set off until nine 
months after her possible claim for consideration had been 
converted into an absolute right by subsequent legislation.' 

Judge Chandler's estate was almost exclusively invested 
in real property in Worcester and Hampshire Counties. 
Some of it was unproductive, but there were many im- 
proved farms which Avere let out on leases. Appraisers 
were appointed for the Worcester propert}^ in 1777 and 
for the outside real estate in 1778. They were instructed 
to return the appraised value of the several lots in lawful 
money, that is to say on the basis of silver money, in the 
pounds, shillings and pence of the New England denomina- 
tion. The returns of most of the appraisers then appointed 
were promptly made, and an inventory of the real estate 
evidently made up from them, which bears no date but was 
probably made in 1778, shows that they had then found 
real estate amounting according to the a})praisement to 
£oG,8o5 \bs. The appraisers of the Worcester property 
were instructed to make a return of the value of the 
" Bedding Utensils & Implements of Household furniture," 
and to report the names of such of the family as were 
imable to sup})ort themselves. 

On the 20th of November, 1778, Mary Chandler peti- 
tioned the Judge of Probate that one third part of the 
improvement of her husband's real estate during his 
absence might be assigned her under the " Act to prevent 
the Waste," &c. The petition was not at that time allowed. 

' Province Laws, Vol. V., p. 971. 



1900.] " Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 143 

The " Act to prevent the return to this State of certain 
persons therein named and others, who have left this State 
or either of the United States, and joined the enemy 
thereof," — in which John Chandler was mentioned by 
name, became a law, October 16, 1778.^ The "Act for 
confiscating the estates of certain persons, commonly 
called Absentees " was passed May 1, 1779.^ Under this 
last Act the wife of any absentee who had remained in the 
United States became entitled to the improvement and 
income of one third part of her husband's real and per- 
sonal estate (after payment of debts) during her life and 
continuance in the United States. Judges of Probate 
were instructed to set off such dower, " in like manner as 
it might have been if her husband had died intestate 
within the jurisdiction of this State." 

A detailed inventory of the personal property which had 
come into possession of the agent was returned by him, 
and oath made to its accuracy March 17, 1779. Accom- 
panying this and forming a part of the same report Avas the 
return of the Commissioners appointed to estimate the value 
of the Worcester property. The personal property they esti- 
mated as worth £572 9s. The Worcester real and per- 
sonal estate they put at £23,612 9s. An interest in a 
farm at Charlton they valued at £2,000, and they called 
the whole £25,615 9s., — three pounds more than the 
separate items foot up. 

March 17, 1779, Mary Chandler petitioned for the use 
and improvement of one third of the real estate of her hus- 
])and, the conclusion of her petition being couched in the 
following words : " the anxiety & solicitude attending the 
long suspense she has been in relative to the premises are 
very disagreeable to her, for which as well as other reasons 
she is moved to make the request which if granted will be 



> Province Laws, Vol. V., p. 012. ' Ibid., p. 968. Special authority had been piven 
the Agent at that time to lease certain real property for one year at rent to be 
approved by the Selectmen of Worcester. Resolves of the General Assembly of the 
SUte of Massachusetts Bay, p. 6, April 9, 1778. Resolve XXVI. 



144 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

of essential .service to her, as a })ermanent security of the 
support of herself & her orphan family." The granting of 
the petition l)eing at this time discretionary with the Judge of 
Probate, no action Avas then taken, but about seven months 
later, a little over five months after the passage of the 
Confiscation Act, on the 12th of October, commissioners 
were appointed to set off dower. These commissioners on 
the 6th da}' of Decemlier made return of their action under 
this appointment. They estimated the value of the real 
estate at £76,515,^ the Worcester property especially being 
appraised by them at much higher figures than it was in 
the previous appraisals. They set off for dower the 
homestead, and certain pastures, wood lots and farms in 
Worcester, which Avith one pew in the town church, they 
valued at £25,505. This valuation Avas accepted by the 
Court, and both Mary Chandler and Joseph Allen, the 
agent, signified their assent to it. An order Avas therefore 
entered Fel)ruary 8, 1780, approving the return and setting 
off the designated real estate for the improvement of Mrs. 
Chandler. The final return of the agent Avas not made 
until 1784. It contains the following statement as to the 
disposition of the personal property. "N. B. The one 
half of the personal estate contained in an Inventory 
exhil)ited into the probate Avas delivered to the Avife of 
said absentee by order of the Judge of Probate & the 
remainder Avas rec'd by the Committee of Confiscation for 
the County of Worcester." 

' The accuracy of the estimate of the first appraisers £36,835 15s. lawful mouey, 
the equivalent of £27,626 16s. sterling, is confirmed by Chandler's estimate of losses 
returned to the Commissioners of American Claims, in London. He estimated the 
property which he was compelled to abandon, as worth, £25,000 sterlinj!:.— See A'ol. 
105, fol. 122, Audit Office Records, American Loyalists, Records Office, London. 
In the volume known as " Index to American Claims " in the same office, under the 
heading " Claim for loss of Propt " against the name " Chandler John Massa" the 
amount £11,067 13s. is given. This "claim" can not represent the value of the 
entire estate. 

Chandler's original estimate of £25,000 was evidently a moderate and fair estimate 
of the value of the estate in 1774. The appraisers of the Hampshire property made 
a return of the value as £2,530 5s. in 1774 and 1775. This not being satisfactory to 
the Agent, they made a second return of the value as of Dec. 1778, <at £8,695 15s. 
The valuation of the same property in the 1780 appraisal was £8,770. 



1 900 . ] Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 1 45 

In view of the fact that Mrs. Chandler consented to the 
valuation of the property which furnished the basis for the 
assignment of dower, it is not possible at this day to 
criticise the acts of the appraisers, but one thing is evi- 
dent, the changes in the values assigned the various lots 
worked to her disadvantage, since the Worcester property 
was that which was most affected and it was out of this 
property that her dower was assigned. The homestead lot 
Avas set off to her and the additional })roperty was certainlj* 
adequate to maintain her family in good style, if the income 
which it was capable of producing was proportionate to its 
appraised value. The only real clue that we get to this iv«; 
from the letter, and there we learn that the family was 
obliged to economize. 

The death of the mother in 1783 temporaril}^ plunged 
this large family into absolute penury. The doAver upon 
which they had lived followed the mother to the grave, and 
for the moment there was nothing left for the support of 
the family. An appeal for relief was made to the General 
Court, which was found to be compliant, and within about 
three weeks after the death of the mother, the children 
Avere authorized to take possession of and improve that 
part of their father's estate Avhich had been set aside for 
dower. The grant was, hoAvever, not permanent in its 
nature, being limited by the addition of the Avords, " until 
the further order of the General Court." ^ In 1786, the 
Legislature in still more generous mood set over the estate 
from Avhich the doAver had been derived, save a single lot 
on what is noAv Lincoln Square, which had in 1785 been 
approi)riated for a gaol for Worcester County. The title 
was granted in fee simple to seven of the children who 
were designated by their names, Lucretia being one.^ 



» Resolves of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in New 
England, Boston, 1783, p. 47. Resolve XV., October 4, 1783. 

2 The original grant was in October, 1783. On the second of July, 1784, the Legis- 
lature ordered all confiscated estates to be sold, f'ebruary eleventh, 1785, this estate 
was excepted from the operation of the above order and the children were author- 
10 



14fi American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

The days of thoughtless merry-making of this young 
girl Avere b}'' the death of her mother brought to an abrupt 
ending. She was selected by her brothers to take charge 
of a household in which, as she says, there were fifteen 
beds to be made up in the morning, and here began the 
preparation for the responsible career which was before 
her. Her time was entirely occupied with the cares which 
were thrown upon her shoulders, and all thoughts of 
amusement were necessarily laid aside. Although there is 
nothing in the letter to indicate that she in any way 
rebelled at the responsibilities which were thrust upon her, 
this phase of her life is perhaps the most barren of all 
those of which we catch a glimpse. Later she endured 
far greater hardships, but then she had her husband with 
her to cheer her spirits, to sympathize with her troubles, 
and above all, she could triumph with him as they jointly 
overcame the obstacles which impeded the progress of 
his career. But at this time, while still young and fond 
of society, she found herself cut off from many of the 
pleasures which go to make this period the one to which 
girls look back in old age as the pleasantest portion of life. 
Still she was happy, because, as she says, " I thought I 
certainly was earning my living." 

It is as a married woman that we next see her, and it is 
only through the economies which she then practised that 
she betrays the hardships of the life upon which she had 
now entered. The statement in the letter, " Count Rum- 



ized to remain in possession for two years longer. In June, 1785, Thaddeus and 
William Maccarty were authorized to prove claims against the estate of John 
Chandler, the same to be satisfied out of the dower estate. June 10, 1786, the 
dower estate, except the gaol-lot was set over to the seven children in fee sim- 
ple, subiect to the payment of all debts due from the estate and not already paid. 
June 23, 1786, it appearing that the form of this grant would not produce the bene- 
ficial result intended by the legislature, the resolve of June 10th was repealed and 
the same parties were declared to be seized and possessed in fee simple as tenants 
in common of the real estate set off to their mother for her thirds, with exception 
of the gaol-lot, " the petitioners paying and discharging all those debts due from 
the said estate, which have not already been examined and allowed by the Commis- 
sioners on the same, as reported to the Judge of Probate for the said County." The 
last claim allowed against the estate was in 1787. 



1900.] ^ Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 147 

ford's book was of much use to me, I learned many cheap 
dishes and made them satisfactory to my family," discloses 
a utilitarian application of the investigations into the 
scieiice of nutrition made by the remarkable man to whose 
book she refers, which is of very great interest. It is not 
unlikely that the majority of those who are present at this 
meeting have no other associations with the name of Ben- 
jamin Thompson than those aroused by his investigations 
on the subject of heat, concerning which the Committee 
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences which 
supervised the publication of his complete works in 1874 
said : "his experiments are now seen to be the first of that 
memorable series of investigations which has resulted in 
the modern mechanical theory of heat and the conservation 
of energy.''! This committee classified the papers in the 
four volumes which they then published under the follow- 
ing heads : " The scientific papers will be found chiefly in 
the first two volumes ; descriptions of improved methods of 
•vvarmmg and cooking occupy the third ; and the greater part 
of the last IS devoted to the philanthropic essay^ ; but this 
also contains the scientific papers on light." It will be seen 
that Count Rumford's paper entitled, "Of the Construc- 
tion of Kitchen Fire Places and Kitchen Utensils, together 
with remarks and observations relating to the various 
processes of cooking, and proposals for improving that 
mos useful art," which was relegated to the third volume 
of the Complete Works, was not regarded by the Commit- 
tee as a scientific paper, while the "investigation of the 
science of nutrition" which Count Rumford entitled, "Of 
food; and particularly of feeding the poor," a paper, 
doubtless which was of use to Mrs. Bancroft, which was 
included by the Committee under the philanthropic essays 
in the fourth volume, was also discarded from the society of 
the papers called scieiitific^^^^Usno^o philanthropic es.^ys 

^jThe^ complete Works of c^;:;;:;;;;;;;;:^;;:;;., 3„,,^„^ ^3^^_ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^ 



148 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

that we should natiirallj turn for cooking receipts, and I 
confess that T should have lieen at a loss for a solution of the 
question, To what did the writer refer by this reference to 
Count Rumford's Works ? had it not been impressed upon 
my memory that I had recently heard Professor Trow- 
bridge, of Harvard University, describe at a meeting of 
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the results 
arrived at by Count Rumford in a study made by him of 
the science of nutrition. In this description full justice 
was done l)y Professor Trowbridge to the scientific charac- 
ter of the work. 

The circumstances under which this investigation Avas 
undertaken were peculiar. Bavaria was at that time over- 
run with what we should call to-day tramps. Count Rum- 
ford describes the situation in the following words : 
" The number of itinerant beggars, of both sexes and all 
ages, as well foreigners as natives, who strolled about the 
country in all directions, levjdng contributions from the 
industrious inhabitants, stealing and robbing and leading a 
life of indolence and the most shameless debauchery was 
quite incredible ; and so numerous were the swarms of 
l)eggars in all the great towns, and particularly in the 
capital, so great their impudence and so persevering their 
importunity, that it Avas almost impossible to cross the 
streets without Ijeing attacked and absolutely forced to 
satisfy their clamorous demands. And these beggars were 
in general by no means such as from age or bodily infirmi- 
ties were imable by their labor to earn their livelihood ; 
but they Avere for the most part, stout, strong, healthy, 
sturdy beggars, who, lost to every sense of shame, had 
embraced the profession from choice, not necessity, and 
Avho not unfrequently added insolence and threats to their 
importunity, and extorted that from fear Avhich they could 
not procure by their arts of dissimulation." ^ 

The problem Avhich Count Rumford set for himself was 

» Works of Couut Rumford, Vol. IV., pp. 241, 242, Bostou, 1875. 



- 1900.] . Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 149 

to put a stop to this condition of things. As a preliminary 
step he hired a vacant building in Munich, originally 
erected as a manufactory, and made preparations to furnish 
work to such of these vagrants as were physically capal)le 
of it. Then on a given day, by means of the co-operation 
of the military with the police, he caused every person 
found begging in Bavaria to be arrested, and thus at one 
stroke practically put a stop to the business. " In the four 
years immediately succeeding the introduction of the 
measures adopted for putting an end to mendicity, and 
clearing the country of beggars, thieves, robbers, etc.," 
said Rumford, "above ten thousand of these vasfabonds, 
foreigners, and natives were actually arrested and delivered 
over to Civil Magistrates," and " in taking up the l)eggars 
in Munich and providing for those who stood in need of 
public assistance, no less than twenty-six hundred of the 
one description and the other were entered upon the lists 
in one week, though the whole number of the inhabitants 
of the city of Munich probably does not amount to more 
than sixty thousand, even including the suburbs." 

It was under such circumstances as these that Rumford 
began his great experiment in social science which resulted 
in temporarily, at least, suppressing beggary in Bavaria. 
His "Military Work-house" was at first a source of 
expense, but under his careful supervision it ultimately 
became self-supporting. 

This was accomplished through the skilful manner in 
which the labor of the inmates was applied, and in the 
economies of administration which resulted from his 
studies of the use of fuel in cooking- and his investigations 
of the nutritive value of different foods. His purpose 
was to give his working force food which should develop 
their strength to the best possible advantage. That was 
evidently the firht point to be gained, and the second was 
to make use of those substances which would most 
economically accomplish this result. His investigations 



150 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

not only covered these two points but also comprehended 
the determination of the best methods of culinary treat- 
ment. The results of this study are eml)odied in the 
paper on food, which not only contains a great deal of 
statistical information as to the preparation and cost of the 
foods used at the Military Work-house together witli 
similar statistics obtained with reference to the food of 
certain soldiers in the Bavarian army, but also has a 
number of receipts which he recommends. He devotes a 
chapter to our Indian Corn and gives an " Approved 
Receipt for making a plain Indian Pudding." He has 
considerable to say " On the Boiling of Potatoes so as to 
be eaten as Bread," and gives a " Receipt for a very cheap 
Potato Dumpling " and another " for preparing boiled 
Potatoes with a Sauce." He has a good deal to say about 
the value of Barley as food and introduces it with Samp 
or Hominy in his Receipt for a very Cheap Soup. Rye 
bread is another cheap food which he recommends, and he 
adds a detailed account of the experiments made at the 
Bake-house of the Military Work-house in baking yjq 
bread. 

It was the information contained in these papers which 
proved of practical value to Mrs. Bancroft in her house- 
keeping in Worcester. If we wish fulh^ to comprehend 
the extent of the economies which Count Rumford was 
actually dealing with we must turn to the statistics which 
he gives concerning his Bavarian soldiers. Their pajs he 
says, was five kreutzers a da}^ and IJ Bavarian pounds 
of what he calls ammunition In-ead. This bread he con- 
sidered to be worth three kreutzers, so that the daily pay 
was equivalent to eight kreutzers. He shows that the cost 
of feeding each soldier was 5|| kreutzers, leaving 2|^ 
kreutzers for beer, tobacco, etc. He reckoned that the 
daily expense of feeding the Bavarian soldier was " equal 
to two pence sterling, very nearly." Notwithstanding the 
fact that some of the ingredients of these cheap receipts 



1900.] - Liicretia Bancroft's Letter. 151 

were native and nearly all were capable of being produced 
in New England, it may be doubted whether similar 
economies could have Ijeen practised in a household there. 
It is obvious, however, that much profit was gained by this 
sagacious woman through the perusal of Rumford's works. 
Edward Atkinson, who has devoted much attention to the 
subject of food economies, finds that in our day the poor 
do not care to practise the economies which he lecom- 
mends. " I shall think myself very fortunate," says 
Rumford, " if what I have done in the prosecution of these 
my favorite studies should induce ingenious men to turn 
their attention to the investigation of a science hitherto 
much neglected, and where every new improvement must 
tend directly and powerfully to increase the comforts and 
enjoyments of mankind." Rumford's work, in which he 
took such pride, was of unquestioned merit, yet so far 
from its stimulating ingenious men to further researches in 
the same direction, the subject has been since practically 
neglected until it was taken up by Atkinson in our da} ,^ 
and the valuable monographs of Rumford, full of food and 
fuel statistics as they are, are concealed in the new edition 
of his works among the philanthropic essays. 

One contemporaneous admirer we know that he had in 
New England, the wife of a countrj^ clergyman, struggling 
to live and rear a large family upon an inadecjuate salary, 
and we may be sure that she meant what she said when she 
wrote "Count Rumford's book was of much use to me." 

The glimpse that Ave get of the life of this struggling 
family through the pictures that she gives of the table 
around which the children of the family gathered to 
consume their rations of rye bread, to drink their share 
of the fragments of cold coffee boiled and to sip their 



' I am not unmiudful in making this statement that at the present time investi- 
gations are being carried on in some of our laboratories of a highly scieutitle 
character which promise results of great value in regard to the nutritive values 
of foods. 



152 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

cheap soup and eat their cheap pudding, is supplemented 
by further details of an autol)iographical cliaracter fur- 
nished by the father of the familj^ in his fiftieth anniversary 
sermon.' At a town meeting held on March 1, 1785, 
the question Ijeing sul)mitted whether the town wouhl 
agree to settle Mr. Bancroft in the work of the Gospel 
ministry, it was voted in the negative. At the same 
meeting' it was also voted not to give the consent of the 
town to the formation of a new religious society by those 
who were desirous of settling Mr. Bancroft. Thereupon 
those who favored Mr. Bancroft seceded from the first 
parish and formed an association for the purpose of 
creating another religious society in Worcester. Over 
this second congregational church Mr. Bancroft was 
ordained February 1st, 178G. "The time was unfavor- 
able," says he, " when these proceedings conmienced. 
The revolutionary war had then closed and paper money 
no longer passed as currency, every production of the 
earth had greatly fallen in price, state taxes were high, 
and creditors demanded their debts. People in conse- 
quence felt themselves oppressed, and in 178G Shays' 
insurrection broke out. The new Society being an 
individual association and not incorporated, were still 
holden by the first parish ; they asked to be exempted 
from a ministerial tax, but were denied. In October, 
1780, I married, and of course met the expenses of a 
family. The salary was $500. Under the complicated 
difficulties of the period this was considered a weight too 
onerous to be borne." It was under circumstances like 
these that the j'oung couple entered upon their married 
life, dependent, for a time at least, for their support, upon 
a small salary, the collection of which in its entirety it 
was found to be almost impossible to accomplish. " To 
assess the annual salary, or enforce the collection, in 



'A sermon delivered in Worcester January 31, 183G, by Aaron Baucruft, D.D., 
etc., etc. Worcester, 1836. 



1900.] . Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 153 

the usual manner," says William Lincoln, " was impracti- 
cal)le." Resort was, therefore, had to monthly contribu- 
tions for the support of the minister, and the amounts 
due from individuals were afterwards adjusted. 

If we consider the conditions of life under which this 
young woman had spent her childhood, we cannot wonder 
at the disappointment of her brothers at the marriaoe of 
their sister to a young clergyman settled over a mere 
association of individuals, from whom there was no leo-al 
method of forcing the voluntary subscriptions they had 
made to the inadequate salary agreed upon. Mrs. Ban- 
croft had, however, made her choice and she entered upon 
the struggle for life with all the energy with which nature 
had endow-ed her. "Rarely has a woman," says Dr. 
Bancroft, " from a family of plenty so readily conformed 
to a change of w^orldly condition, so cheerfully sustained 
the straitened circumstances of a family, or so perse- 
veringly and effectually labored for its support, as she has 
done." 

Insignificant as was the salary which he received. Dr. 
Bancroft realized that his parish could not pay it and simul- 
taneously erect a house for public worship. Consequent!}', 
in March, 1789, he voluntarily surrendered one-third of his 
salary on condition that a meeting-house be immediatel}' 
built. After the completion of the new building affairs 
moved more smoothly but, at best, it was quite impossible 
to support his growing family on his salary as clergyman. 
"My income from the parish," he says, "being quite 
inadequate to the support of a family, I was obliged to 
have recourse to extraneous means. We for years received 
as many boarders as our house would accommodate. I 
assisted .several youth in their preparation for college, or 
qualifying themselves for useful stations in busy life; 
through a long period I admitted in the forenoon of week- 
days a number of the daughters and relations of my 
parishioners into my study and gave them the best instruc- 



154 American Antiquarimi Society. [Oct., 

tion in niv power. The publication of Washington's Life 
yielded some i)rofit ; during several years I officiated as 
editor of one or andther of our public journals." 

During the Napoleonic wars there w^as such a rise in the 
necessaries of life that Dr. Bancroft could no longer meet 
the current expenses of his family. He says : " In a 
conference with assembled members of the society this 
fact was declared, and they were informed that I had 
encroached on the small capital bequeathed * to my wife by 
her father. The appeal was not made in vain. Indi- 
viduals were liberal in sending to our house articles of 
consumption and in the seven following years I received 
by special grants, in addition to the annual salary, nine 
hundred dollars. In 181 G, three hundred dollars was 
added to the salary, which was continued till the settlement 
of a colleague, when at my instance the salary was reduced 
to five hundred dollars, the original aiiiount." Thirteen 
children had in the meantime been born in this household. 
The older boys had gone to sea, but the older daughters, 
competent, energetic and brought up under the influence 
of this respected father and beloved mother, bore their 
share in the household labors, provided as they best could 
for the comfort of the father and relieved their mother 
in the care of the younger children. The much needed 
increase in the salary did not come until a radical change 
had taken place in Dr. Bancroft's public position. From 
a solitary, ostracized preacher, who during the first seven 



1 The use of the word bequeathed is probably inadvertent on the part of Dr. 
Bancroft. Tlie frequent occurrence of the doctor's name in the Indexes of the 
Registry of Deeds in Worcester indicates tlie manner in which lie invested his 
wife's property. He first figures as grantee of land in Ward in 1788, the consideration 
being £300. The next year he and his wife, in consideration of £350, convey to 
Samuel and Charles Chandler all the right, title and interest which they have in 
and to several messuages, tracts and parcels of land lying in Worcester aforesaid, 
with the buildings thereon standing and the appurtenances thereunto belonging, 
being the same which by a resolve of the General Court of the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts bearing date the twenty-third day of June, A. Domini one thousand 
seven hundred and eighty-six, were granted to the said Lucretia with others 
therein named as tenants in common of the premises above described. This last is 
the dower property. 



1900.] • Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 155 

years of his ministry found only three clergymen in the 
vicinity of Worcester who would exchange with him, he 
had become a recognized leader and had laid the founda- 
tion of that reputation which made him the president of 
the American Unitarian Association from 1825, the date 
of its organization, down to 1836 ; which had already 
brought him the degree of D.D. from Harvard ; which led 
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to elect him 
as a Fellow, and which caused this Society to choose him 
for its vice-president from 1816 to 1832. With this 
recognition of his true place in the ministry came the 
accompanying burden thereby imposed upon him of receiv- 
ing in his household and entertaining strangers and friends 
who sought his company. Dr. Hill, recognizing the full 
extent of this burden, tells us how it was met by Mrs. 
Bancroft : " In the sanctuary of her own dwelling, in 
rearing and educating a numerous family of children, large 
portions of her life were spent. But in every portion, 
her house was the abode of hospitalit}' — of the enlarged 
and generous hospitality of a former generation. In the 
spirit of the Apostle she was careful to entertain strangers 
and was given to hospitality ; and when I reflect how 
generously that of clergymen in former days was taxed, 
especially in a central place like this — how many from 
season to season thronged her dwelling — how incessantly 
she was called upon to sustain the rites of the Christian 
family — I cannot but admire the energy which supported 
her, and the cheerfulness with which she performed a high 
duty. Whatever sacrifices of time and labor it might 
cost, night or day, her doors were thrown Avidely open, 
and the friend or relative, the stranger or sojourner, found 
a warm welcome at her fireside and her board." * 

Dr. Allen, of Northborough, himself a recipient of the 
hospitality of Dr. Bancroft, says : " It was my good 



1 A Discourse on the Life and Character of the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D.D., by 
Alouzo Hill, Worcester, 1839. 



156 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

fortune to be an inmate in his family for several weeks in 
the summer of 1815, when I had opportunity to witness, 
in the order and peace and mutual love that prevailed, 
evidence of the wisdom and skill with which it had been 
presided over by its venerated head, then absent on a 
distant journey." ^ One story that Dr. Allen relates calls 
vividly to our minds the great changes that have been pro- 
duced by the economies of to-day in the publication of 
books, and the social changes wrought by our numerous 
libraries which bring literature of all sorts within reach of 
the poorest household. " Gu}^ Mannering" was then first 
out, the authorship being still unknown, and a copy had 
been received at Dr. Bancroft's. " Our afternoons," says 
Dr. Allen, '' were mostly spent in the parlor, where the 
members of the family, with occasionally some of the 
neighbors used to assemble to listen to the readino;" of 
the new book. 

Through the same source, we gain some aid in estimating 
the esteem in which Dr. Bancroft was held by the commu- 
nit}^ at large and by visitors at Worcester, and we learn 
something about the way in which the family spent their 
evenings. "His house," said Dr. Allen, "was the resort 
of distinguished strangers who visited Worcester, and 
while the courts were in session, he seldom failed to 
receive calls from the judges and leading members of the 
bar. On such occasions, subjects of deep interest and 
moment were sometimes discussed, to the elucidation of 
which Dr. Bancroft contributed his full share. However 
distinguished his guests, he was always listened to with 
deference and respectful attention, for his remarks were 
replete with wisdom and learning, with moderation and 
candor and practical good sense." * * * " Qj^ gun- 
day evenings, he was commonly visited by a few of his 
more intimate friends and parishioners, who took this 



I " The Worcester Association and its Antecedents, etc.," by Joseph Alien, Boston, 
1868, p. 132 et seq. 



1900.] Lucretia Bancroft's Letter. 157 

method of shoAving their respect for their venerable pastor, 
with Avhom some of them had been intimately associated 
through near the whole period of his ministry." * * * 
" The evenings thus spent were truly JVoctes Amhrosianm^ 
spiritual feasts, with which our souls were refreshed ; and, 
I trust, our hearts made better." 

With this description at the hands of Dr. Allen of the 
life led by this Avorthy couple in the little house on Main 
Street,^ we can appropriately close our study of Mrs. 
Bancroft's career, induced by the perusal of her letter. 
Such in substance, Avas the life led by the family at the 
time Avhen the letter Avas Avritten. While the ereat bat- 
tie for the right of independent congregational worship 
had been fought by Dr. Bancroft, the second parish fully 
realized that his success had cost the partner of his life 
many sacrifices and that the victory was only gained at the 
expense of much suffering on her part. The parish, there- 
fore, caused to be cut upon the same block of marble on 
Avhich they bore testimony to the honor and gratitude 
Avhich they felt for their pastor, their desire that "Her 
ardent friendship, her active benevolence, her many virtues 
and her efforts and sacrifices for the welfare of the 
Second Parish in Worcester should ever be held in gmte- 
ful remembrance." 

NOTE. 

While the thoughts suggested by the letter find a natural con- 
clusion with the death of the writer, it may be permitted perhaps 
to add one or two extracts from the numerous eulogies published 
at the time of the death of that daughter of whom the mother 
said "Your father has often said Eliza caused him the least 
trouble of the four first children. I had no trouble with her, she 
was always yielding to my wish to learn. I had real delight in 
learning her to work." Her death occurred in 1872, while the 
memory of the recent war was still fresh in the minds of people, 



' This property was acquired by Dr. Bancroft in 1813 by two deeds. One from 
William Rice, consideration $750, and one from Isaiah Thomas, consideration $1,500. 



158 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct., 

and while it was still remembered how full she was of patriotic 
devotion to the cause of the Union and how great had been her 
activity in the various efforts put forth by women at that time in 
behalf of the troops in the field. 

The Spii of January 25, 1872, contains an article upon her 
death which although signed B. was assigned the position of the 
leader on the editorial page. It bears evidence, I think, of being 
from the pen of Governor Bullock. The writer, after alluding to 
her husband, says: "Every community pays the tribute of 
eulogy to such as it terms its first man and foremost citizen ; but 
it is even better for the moral and the lesson that the honors of 
every community should be accorded to its first and foremost 
woman." The writer then goes on to point out the many 
attractive features of her character which made her prominent, 
and in describing her life at Washington says " Mrs. Davis was 
much of the time at Washington during the senatorial terms of 
her husband, where her qualities won warm and universal favor." 
. " Among all the scenes of historical interest of that 
period, Mr. Clay was alike in the Senate and the drawing-room 
the recognized chief and favorite. It was he who said that, 
all things considered, Mrs. Davis was the foremost woman at 
Washington." 

A communication signed H. (probably Mr. Haven), appeared 
in the editorial columns of the Evening Gazette of January 24, 
the day of her death. The writer speaks of her as "gifted 
beyond most women with a keen and vigorous intellect," alludes 
to her " energetic and active leadership in benevolent and useful 
enterprises" and says that "her social influence at Washington 
and the respect inspired by her attractive manners and brilliant 
conversational powers among statesmen and men of letters are 
well understood." 

A writer who trusts that he is " not too late to add another to 
the many heartfelt tributes which the death of this admirable 
woman has already called forth," dwells upon " the enthusiasm 
of youth " which kept her vivacious in her old age. " Ranked 
among the prominent women at the National Capital full thirty 
years ago," he says, " she returned to Washington during the 
last two winters to find herself the centre of admiring regard." 



1900.] Lucretia Bancroffs Letter. 159 

The foUoAving lines, .suggested by a miniature of the 
writer of the letter, were addressed to " Lucretia Bancroft" 
by her grandson, George H. Davis : — 

Dreamily will fancy slip. 

As one backward turns a look, 
Calling up that smiling lip 

And that cheerful look ; 
Eyes that sparkled through the tears 
Of so nearly fourscore years. 

Had I not this semblance now 

I could see thee even yet. 
Time, who slightly touched that brow 

And those locks of jet. 
Played in vain the spoiler's part 
Heaping cares upon that heart. 

I, a boy, saw thee in years, 

Saw thy many merry ways, 
Thought thy life knew naught of tears, 

Had no cloudy days. 
Careless fellow not to see 
Whence the spring of youth in thee ! 

As a streamlet which the rain 

Soils, perhaps a little while. 
Grows, in flowing, clear again, 

So returned thy smile. 
So did thy unselfish grief 
Find in active care relief. 

Zealous in thy charity, 

Perfect Mother, thou, at home. 
Strong in him who walked with thee 

Even to the tomb. 
Passing first its portal dim 
With that smile to welcome him. 

March 21st, 1862. 



iiHiS''^ °^ CONGRESS 

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011 769 STh 



